


Night at the Library

by Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Library, First Meetings, Fluff, Homeless Neil Josten, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Protective Andrew Minyard, Soft Andrew Minyard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21742897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/pseuds/Leahelisabeth
Summary: Andrew carried the cup back out to the main area of the library and started when he saw someone waiting at the desk.  He set his face like stone and took his time wandering back to the desk.  The young man standing there was probably in his late teens or early twenties.  He was wearing faded jeans and a hoodie that were both two sizes too large and woefully inadequate for the weather.  Snowflakes had melted and left glittering drops in his mud brown hair.  The man didn’t look directly at Andrew and hunched his shoulders to appear smaller than his already underwhelming height.Andrew works the night shift at the local 24 hr library and Neil just needs a place to sleep.Written for the AFTG Exchange Winter 2019 for @ghoostangel.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 35
Kudos: 493
Collections: AFTG Exchange Winter 2019





	Night at the Library

Andrew yawned and took another sip of his dark chocolate peppermint mocha. It was starting to go cold and he’d made the mistake of eating all the whipped cream off the top. Between that and the peppermint and chocolate settling at the bottom, he had far too much plain coffee to get through before it started tasting delicious again. He considered dumping it but it was only 2:00 am and he still had five hours of night shift to get through before he could go home and sleep.

There was no one in the library and he hadn’t seen another living soul since before 9:00 pm so he figured Wymack couldn’t be too pissy if he went and warmed up his drink in the break room. He tore open four sugar packets and stirred them into his coffee cup before sticking it in the microwave for a minute. It smelled good again and he took a sip with a sigh of satisfaction, feeling the sweetness in his teeth like an electric shock.

He carried the cup back out to the main area of the library and started when he saw someone waiting at the desk. He set his face like stone and took his time wandering back to the desk. The young man standing there was probably in his late teens or early twenties. He was wearing faded jeans and a hoodie that were both two sizes too large and woefully inadequate for the weather. Snowflakes had melted and left glittering drops in his mud brown hair. The man didn’t look directly at Andrew and hunched his shoulders to appear smaller than his already underwhelming height.

“Do I need a library card to sit in here and read?” the man asked, finally looking up at Andrew to reveal brown eyes as nondescript as his hair. Andrew raised an eyebrow and met his gaze, noticing the ring around his iris that meant he was wearing coloured contacts. Obviously, it wasn’t a vanity choice and that was perhaps a little bit interesting.

“No,” Andrew said flatly. “Don’t drip on the books.”

The man shrugged and pulled the hoodie over his head, raising the hem of his worn t-shirt to reveal a strip of pale skin. Andrew looked away but not quickly enough to avoid seeing some deep and puckered scars marring the skin of his abdomen.

The man quickly rubbed his head dry with the hoodie and then draped it over his arm. “Good enough?” he asked.

Andrew nodded and looked down at the desk, picking up the paperback he was reading and ignoring the man.

He heard footsteps receding and looked up to see the man disappearing between the stacks of the nonfiction section. He shivered a little and hugged his body as he walked.

Andrew didn’t care if the stranger was cold. He turned the thermostat up another two degrees anyway.

He dozed off toward morning, face pillowed on his book. His cousin’s screechy voice woke him up.

“Andrew, it’s hot as blazes in here. Wymack’s going to pitch a fit again when he finds out you’re changing the thermostat,” Nicky said, dropping his bag on the counter and pulling out a white paper bag with a chocolate chip muffin for Andrew.

Andrew rolled his eyes but snatched the muffin and took a walk through the library. The man had gone, leaving nothing but a wet spot on one of the comfy chairs and a textbook about advanced calculus on the table.

* * *

Andrew expected he would never see the man again; he had transience written on every inch of his faded clothes. He was surprised the next night when the man showed up again.

“You know, I could get you some Ambien if it’s easier,” Andrew said when the man approached the desk shortly after 1:00 am.

“Why...why are you offering me drugs?” the man asked, his face confused.

“The calculus book?” Andrew said. “Because the only reason someone would be reading that at this time of night would be if they were having trouble sleeping? It was a joke?” 

“Oh, haha,” the man smiled shyly. “I like math.”

Andrew was suddenly, annoyingly aware of the man’s sharp cheekbones. And really, that jawline could cut glass. It was entirely unfair that such a disaster of a human being should also be so attractive. He forced himself to look away, feigning complete disinterest as he once again walked into the stacks to find a book.

He left around 5:00 am and waved to Andrew as he walked out the door.

Andrew didn’t wave back.

* * *

“What’s your name?” the man asked after four consecutive nightly visits.

“Why do you need to know?” Andrew asked.

“I’m Neil,” the man said, holding out his hand for Andrew to shake and ignoring his scowl.

Andrew did not take Neil’s hand. But he nodded slightly. “Andrew.”

Neil smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Andrew.”

“No it isn’t,” Andrew growled.

Neil laughed, loud and bright. “Aren’t I the one who gets to decide that?”

“I don’t expect someone with the poor judgement to go outside in a hoodie in the dead of winter to properly be able to assess the pleasantness or unpleasantness of a social encounter,” Andrew said coolly.

Neil flushed. Shutters dropped over his eyes and he hunched back into himself. “I’m fine,” he said defensively.

Andrew cursed himself for his lack of tact and instead of apologizing, pulled out his book and took a giant sip of his hot chocolate.

Neil stayed at the counter for a few more seconds before walking away.

* * *

Andrew hated days off. Legally, Wymack had to give them to him but he hated how lost they made him feel. It made no sense for him to change his sleep schedule since he’d be going right back to night shifts. Sometimes he would go out to Eden’s Twilight, the club across town. Nicky, Aaron, and Kevin would often go with him, unless Nicky was working the early morning shift or Kevin had a children’s event. Aaron’s book clubs were usually in the evening so they’d pick him up on the way out.

Andrew would let the alcohol take him and maybe he’d hook up with a random stranger in a bathroom or back alley and the unsettled buzz under his skin would quiet again for another couple of weeks.

But more often, his time off would go like this: too bored to read, too tired to party, too wired to sleep. He’d already run all his errands and done everything else he wanted to do on his first night off and now the second was dragging on. He finally dropped the book he was failing to read on the floor. He didn’t bother to bookmark his place; he hadn’t taken in anything he had read for the last hour.

Fingers dialed the library’s main number out of habit. Renee answered.

“Hello, Foxhole Library. How can I help you?” her sweet voice rang clearly over the lines.

“Is there a shabby looking redhead in the stacks?” Andrew heard himself asking. 

“Yeah, he came in about an hour ago,” Renee said.

Andrew let silence hang awkwardly between them.

“Do you...have any other questions?” she asked softly.

“Ask him what he takes in his coffee,” Andrew blurted out before he could think better of it.

“Ok?” Renee said with a gentle chuckle. He can hear the sound of her setting the phone on the desk.

Andrew waits on the line, throat weirdly dry. Renee’s soft tones float back to the phone, answered by a deeper voice. He can’t quite make out the words.

“He was very confused but he said he prefers it black,” Renee said when she came back on the line a minute later.

“Ok,” Andrew said, hanging up the phone without an explanation.

The only thing open at that time of night was McDonald’s and their coffee was barely a step above road tar but it would do. Andrew hesitated at the door of the library. This was stupid. Neil was going to think he was creepy and was never going to come back. But someone had to drink this horrible black coffee before it got cold.

He pushed open the door and strode in; ignoring Renee’s questioning look, he marched over to Neil and slammed the cup of coffee onto the table beside him.

Neil looked up, startled. “Is that mine?”

“I don’t want it,” Andrew snarled. He spun on his heel and pretended to peruse the stacks. Eventually he grabbed a book without looking to see what it was and flopped down in a seat beside Neil.

“Thank you,” Neil started.

“Trying to read,” Andrew snapped, opening to the dedication page of the book and staring at it without really taking in any of the words.

Neil laughed, that same bright laugh, like a warm fire after coming in from the bitter cold. He didn’t say anything but Andrew looked up and saw a strange soft, unfamiliar look on Neil’s face and it made him want to hide, and it made him want to stay.

“Staring,” he said, cheeks heating as he stared resolutely down at his book.

Neil didn’t say anything more, just curled back up in his comfy chair and continued to read.

The book Andrew had grabbed was a history book about female code breakers in WWII and he found himself getting drawn into it. He had practically forgotten where he was when a soft snoring broke through his concentration. He looked up and saw Neil had fallen asleep, book resting open on his chest.

Andrew stood, picked up the book off Neil’s chest without actually touching him, and marked the page with a bookmark from one of the many stashes in each section of the library.

Renee opened her mouth to talk to him when he came toward the desk but he shot her a look that let her know he wasn’t willing to talk about it. She smiled and just looked at him. He knew exactly what that look meant. She would listen whenever he was ready to tell her more and she wouldn’t push.

He rummaged through the lost and found and found an old wool cardigan near the bottom that had probably been there for months. It was knitted with hideous oranges and browns but it would be cozy and warm.

He came back out and spread it over the sleeping Neil before gathering up his things and heading home without a word.

* * *

Andrew was back behind the desk the next night. Matt had worked the evening shift and somehow he never managed to get to the shelving. Andrew had two full carts of books to put away before he could settle in for the night. He was almost finished the first cart when he heard the door.

When he emerged from the stacks, Neil stood by the counter with two large coffee cups. “Um...I wanted to say thanks for the coffee?”

“You already did,” Andrew scowled at him.

Neil flushed. “Yeah...uh, I brought you one...to say thanks.” He held out the cup in his right hand.

Andrew snatched it from his hand and took a sip, nearly burning his tongue in the process. He raised his eyebrows. “This doesn’t suck.”

“Yeah, I asked Renee what you liked before I left,” Neil took off his sweater to reveal the wool cardigan underneath. “I wanted to bring this back too. I would have just left it but I wasn’t sure if it would get back to you. And I was so warm when I woke up.”

“It isn’t mine,” Andrew said. “It’s the oldest thing we had in the lost and found. You can keep it.”

“Oh,” Neil blushed. “I did think perhaps it wasn’t your style.” He wrapped the cardigan tightly around himself and grinned at Andrew.

Andrew drew his brows down in his best scowl and Neil seemed absolutely unfazed.

“So what’s with the 24 hour library? I’ve been all over the world and this is the first one I’ve seen that stays open all night and isn't a big city library,” Neil asked.

Andrew shrugged. “My boss has a bleeding heart. He never wants to turn away someone who has nowhere else to go. Talk to most of the staff here. They were once midnight visitors in this library before Wymack gave them a job.”

“Huh,” Neil said. “I guess that’s why you’re so nice.”

“Nice?!” Andrew squeaked embarrassingly. “I’m not nice.”

“I guess that isn’t quite the right word,” Neil mused.

“So, Neil, tell me, why are you here?” Andrew asked.

The light in Neil’s eyes slowly faded, replaced by vigilance and a note of fear. “Couldn’t sleep,” he said, face closing off and shutting down. “Look, I should go.” He picked up his stuff, wrapped himself in his hoodie and practically ran out the door. 

“Fuck,”’ Andrew said into the empty library.

* * *

Neil didn’t come back the rest of the week. Andrew cursed himself for pushing but he couldn’t take it back. Renee asked him about it again but backed off when he snapped at her. He had really fucked this whole thing up.

His two nights off came around again, just happening to coincide with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Kevin begged him to go out and party as he wasn’t running any programs between Christmas and New Years but Andrew refused. He knew he was wallowing and Bee would probably give him a piece of her mind. She would tell him it wasn’t his fault that Neil left and the only thing he could do is learn from the experience and move on. But working for Wymack and being one of his strays meant Andrew could spot others in need of Wymack’s particular brand of tough love. 

Andrew’s phone buzzed intermittently through the evening, mostly snaps from Nicky in all his glittery rainbow glory. Sitting in his apartment alone felt completely futile. He texted Renee at one point to ask if Neil were there but she hadn’t seen him.

It was 11 pm and Andrew had enough of sitting around in his apartment. He bundled himself up in his winter clothes and stepped out into the cold. Everything was closed for Christmas. The houses he passed were lit with candles and coloured lights, everyone winding down for the night and finishing their Christmas Eve rituals. Perfect fat flakes of snow drifted down from the sky and frost painted the darkened store windows. Andrew felt like the only person walking these streets, forever cursed to stand on the outside and never know the warmth he was missing.

“Stop being such a dramatic bastard,” Andrew muttered to himself.

“Is someone there?” A weak voice called from the alleyway he was passing.

It was dark and the glow from the streetlights only illuminated the first few feet of the alley. Andrew fumbled with his phone, turning on the flashlight and shining it down the alley.

A ragged bundle of cloth was propped up against one of the walls. It twitched and moved when Andrew shone his light.

“I’m not dangerous, I swear,” the voice said, breathless from pain. “I just need some help getting to the library.”

Andrew recognized that voice. “Shit, Neil?”

“Andrew?” Neil asked, relief flooding his voice.

Andrew stepped closer. Neil squinted in the light from Andrew’s phone. He looked pale and frozen. Bruises marred his face, one eye was swollen nearly shut and he was clutching his side.

“What happened?” Andrew asked.

Neil shrugged and winced. “Some of the guys around here get really territorial.”

“Were you sleeping out here?” Andrew asked.

Neil’s face took on the same guarded look. “I’m fine,” he said.

“That’s not the fucking question I just asked you,” Andrew growled.

“Fine, yes, I was. Happy?” Neil glared.

“Fuck no,” Andrew said. “You should have told me to fuck off and come back to the library.”

Neil winced again. “It’s not that. I wish I could tell you. But people who know too much about me have this tendency to wind up dead.”

“And I thought I was dramatic,” Andrew muttered to himself.

“Can you just take me to the library tonight? I’ll move on tomorrow. I’ve been in this city too long anyway,” Neil said.

Andrew rolled his eyes and bent over to help Neil to his feet. Neil was so cold, Andrew couldn’t feel any warmth at his side. He half carried, half walked Neil out of the alley and turned left.

“Where are you going?” Neil asked. “The library is the other way.”

“You’re a mess,” Andrew said bluntly. “You should be sleeping in a real bed not a fucking library armchair.”

“Hey, those chairs are really comfy,” Neil protested, still trying to steer Andrew back to the library.

“We’re going to my place,” Andrew said. “I have a spare bedroom with a real bed and I own a frankly sinful number of fluffy blankets because my preferred state of existence is fuzzy burrito. I also have a cupboard full of tea and hot chocolate, and leftover Chinese in the fridge. If we go to the library, it’s an armchair with more items from the lost and found and whatever stale cookies Kevin has left from his last children’s program.”

“Burrito sounds good,” Neil said, sagging heavily into Andrew’s side.

“I thought it might,” Andrew said, picking up the pace.

Neil was soon swaddled in blankets on the couch, alternating between sipping a soothing cup of chamomile tea and taking small bites of a chicken egg roll, with tylenol coursing through his veins, a butterfly bandage holding together the split in his eyebrow, and an ice pack bringing down the swelling on his eye. Andrew picked up the garbage from his rudimentary first aid and then sat down beside Neil.

“You’re a runner,” Andrew said. “You’ve been doing it for a long time and you don’t know who you’d be if you stopped. How am I doing so far?”

Neil nodded, sipping his tea so he wouldn’t have to speak.

“You want to stop,” Andrew said.

Neil hesitated and nodded again.

“You’re never going to find a better opportunity than this,” Andrew said. “You can stay here in my spare bedroom for as long as you need to and I’ll talk Wymack into finding an open position at the library.”

“I wasn’t lying before. I have dangerous people after me and they will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets in my way,” Neil said.

“Wymack rescued Renee out of a street gang. Dan had the scariest pimp I’ve ever encountered. We pulled Matt out of the heart of a drug cartel. If you’re ever going to put down roots, this is where,” Andrew replied.

“I need to think about it,” Neil said.

Andrew nodded. He dropped a set of keys on the end table. “In case you need to go out before I wake up. That way you can get back in.”

The hungry way Neil eyed the keys told Andrew what Neil’s answer would be, even if the man himself hadn’t figured it out yet.

Andrew took Neil’s empty plate and mug, handed him a spare toothbrush, and showed him where he could sleep. Once Neil was in the room with the door closed, Andrew pulled out his phone again and dialled Wymack.

“Andrew, why the fuck are you calling at 1 in the morning. Some of us actually sleep…” Wymack yelled through the phone.

Andrew cut him off. “I’ve found another one.”


End file.
